There was only one person here she’d trust to look after her or help her get back home. She sure as hell wasn’t going to sit quietly in the corner while Gabe and Mephisto attempted to kill each other.
“Stop that right now.” Her voice rang out, far louder than she’d intended, and she couldn’t believe she’d even said it. They both swung around simultaneously to stare at her, as though she was an insect who’d suddenly discovered the power of speech. Shock speared through her. That’s probably all they think I am.
“Sit down,” Gabe growled as he raked his eyes over her as though he’d like nothing more than to sling her over his shoulder like a Viking conqueror. Wait. What? She was having dirty little fantasies about him right now? “Every fucking pervert in the place is looking at you.”
That might be true, but he didn’t need to sound like it was her fault. She fought the urge to tug on the hem of the skirt. It would only draw more attention to her half-exposed bottom.
“This outfit wasn’t my idea.” She tried to inject as much dignity in her words as she could and gave Mephisto a dark glare. He appeared to be enjoying himself.
“Park your asses, archangels,” said the winged stranger. “The human may remain standing. I like the view.”
Gabe grabbed her arm and shoved her onto the sofa before sitting between her and Mephisto. He slammed his booted foot onto the table as waiters placed steaming tankards in front of the three guys.
Males.
Archangels.
Beings from mythology.
Clearly, she wasn’t important enough to be served. And while she didn’t much like the look of the drink, she was in desperate need of alcohol and she doubted this place served whiskey.
Keeping her arm wrapped across her exposed boobs, which was more awkward than it seemed, she reached for Gabe’s tankard. His fingers wrapped around her wrist before she even came close.
“Drink that and die.” He dropped her hand onto her lap, as though her flesh burned him. And not in a good way.
She flexed her fingers and a dozen retorts flashed through her mind. But she kept her mouth shut, because no way would she let him know his cavalier attitude wasn’t annoying her, which was the right response. She was hurt.
“Have mine.” Mephisto leered at her and pushed his tankard across the table. She’d rather drink weed killer than anything he offered her. Before she could do a grand refusal, Gabe bared his teeth at her.
“Don’t, Aurora.” Warning throbbed through each word. “That stuff will kill you.”
“Shit, Gabe. You’re no fun.” Mephisto picked up his tankard and drained half the contents, never taking his gaze from her. Had he really just attempted to poison her?
“I think it’s time I took a trip to Earth,” the winged stranger said. “Been a while since I had a human. I don’t remember them being so …” He paused, clearly for effect, and she eyed him as nerves tumbled in her stomach. “Irreverent,” he added with relish.
Gabe ordered a glass of water from a hovering waiter, and it appeared with dizzying speed.
“Humans haven’t changed, Eblis.” It was obvious he didn’t mean that as a compliment.
The stranger—Eblis—slung his arm over the back of the sofa and scrutinized her. Prickles of alarm raced over her exposed flesh. Much as she wanted to stalk off, it was pointless. Where would she go?
Why didn’t Gabe get her out of here?
“I’m opening a new fetish club,” Eblis said. “Catering to the seriously depraved. Creatures who would literally rip each other apart for the chance to touch a human. Are you up for a trade? I’ll ensure she remains undamaged, if you want her back.”
Paralyzing terror slammed into her.
She was no longer on Earth. She had no idea of the laws, if any, that governed these so-called archangels. They were more like gangsters than anything with a heavenly connection, and their power appeared absolute.
Her hands were clammy, and insanity whispered through the outer edges of her mind. The cloudy atmosphere closed in on her, oppressive and alien, and a terrifying, yet oddly comforting, certainty flooded her.
She was going to faint. And then she was going to die.
Chapter 11
Gabe
“She’s not for sale.” Gabe picked up his tankard and took a long swallow of the burning liquid. It was either that, or leap over the sofa and smash Eblis’ head into the wall for daring to suggest such a thing.
He’d fought over Aurora enough for one night.
It was almost amusing.
Yeah, right.
“You’ve taken this female under your wing?”
Even after all this time, he didn’t appreciate any allusion to his deficiency. Not even the most powerful of immortals broached the subject with him. Eblis was the only one who could say such a thing to him and get away with it.
It was ironic that if Gabe still possessed his wings, he and Eblis would still be blood enemies. Yet the loss of the one thing that defined both archangels and demons had been the catalyst for this unlikely bond between them.
“She’s mine.” The words were archaic, tantamount to ownership, but it was the only thing he could think of to ensure Eblis—and Mephisto—would no longer consider Aurora fair game.
“You should’ve said.” Eblis snapped his fingers for more drinks. “I’ve no desire to trespass on your property.”
Beside him, Aurora shuddered, and he waited for her caustic retort. Although the imperious way she’d addressed him and Meph just now had staggered him, he admired her nerve. There were few who would dare intervene between pissed-off archangels.
Even fewer who would live to breathe another day.
But she didn’t say a word.
Frowning, he grasped her jaw and forced her to look at him. Her skin was ashen and oddly clammy, and her eyes were unfocused. After everything that had happened, she was going into shock now?
He picked up the glass of water and managed to get a few drops between her lips. He needed to get her back to his villa before she completely lost it.
“She’s yours?” There was a hint of mockery in Mephisto’s voice that he chose to ignore. “That won’t stop the Guardians when she’s not on your island.”
How did he know about the Guardians? Unless Zad had told him. Gabe should’ve kept his mouth shut, but he’d been so fucking riled up earlier.
All he had to do to keep her safe was take her back to his sanctuary. The Guardians couldn’t touch her there. But if he gave her his official protection, the Guardians wouldn’t be able to touch her at all.
And neither would any immortal who wanted her. Not when they checked her aura and saw she belonged to him.
Why didn’t I think of that before?
It would solve the problem of having her stay on his island. She could leave, go about her life. He’d never need to see her again, because she’d be safe, and the insidious guilt that he was somehow responsible for drawing the Guardians’ attention to her in the first place, would die.
He’d never given his protection to a mortal before. And not just because the ritual involved a complex cleansing ceremony, where the mortal had to give an oath of allegiance and obedience to their immortal protector. On sacred ground on the night of a full moon.
It was because he’d never wanted to. Because it felt like a betrayal of his long-lost love.
But the alternative was to keep her in his sanctuary for who knew how long.
He didn’t want to keep Aurora for a second longer than he had to. She would never need to understand the significance of what he was doing for her. All she had to know was the Guardians would never come near her again.
And fuck the ritual. Only one thing sealed the deal.
He held out his hand, palm up, to Mephisto.
Shock flashed across the other archangel’s face. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.” Otherwise, how could he ever be sure of her safety? The Guardians might forget about her for decades, and then deci
de to take her. Without his protection, she would never be free of their shadow.
With obvious reluctance, Mephisto handed over his ceremonial athame.
Gabe turned to Aurora, who appeared frozen by the sight of the blade. He smothered a sigh, and before she got the chance to ask what he was doing, he cut open his palm, grasped her fingers, and made an identical incision on hers.
“What?” she wheezed, looking at him in horror. He pressed his hand over hers, mingling their blood, and her expression slid into something strange and ethereal, almost as though a part of her understood there was more to this ritual than its surface significance.
What the fuck does that even mean? He banished the lingering tendrils of guilt from his mind and said the words that would bind her to him.
“This human from Earth, Aurora, is under my protection.”
That was it. All it took was the immortal pledge and a drop of immortal blood and Aurora was his.
Mephisto narrowed his eyes, obviously checking her aura for the unmistakable evidence that she was untouchable. He didn’t bother checking it himself. The deed was done.
“Satisfied?” He wiped the tip of the blade on his forearm before handing it back. Surprisingly, Meph didn’t make a mocking comeback. Instead, he frowned, as though something had distracted him.
Aurora took a shuddering breath, her gaze fixed on her palm. The wound was already healing, due to the immortal properties of his blood. “The Guardians can’t get to me anymore?”
Her voice was barely above a whisper, but at least she was no longer mute with shock. He’d take that as a win.
“No. They can’t touch you without incurring the wrath of the Immortals.” More specifically, him.
“Okay.” She glanced around the club and swallowed. Get her out of here now. He’d got the information he needed. Before he could tell her they were leaving, she added, “I really need the bathroom.”
He shrugged at Eblis, who jerked his head at a nearby seven-foot, muscular bodyguard from one of the less civilized planets in the Sextans.
“Take this human to the restroom. She’s valuable, you understand?”
“I don’t need an escort.” She sounded outraged. Relief smashed through him that her near descent into shock hadn’t done any permanent damage to her sassy tongue.
Anyone would think I enjoy her smart mouth.
And what if he did? It was no one else’s business.
“It’s for your own safety.” Not everyone here could read auras and therefore understand an archangel had claimed her. Especially when Mephisto, the fucked-up pervert, had made her wear something so provocative. If Gabe’s telekinetic power wasn’t restricted to whichever planet he happened to be on at the time, he’d give her another of his own shirts to wear. Anything was better than what she had on right now.
But only because of where they were. It would be different if they were in his villa. She could wear that outfit all the time and he wouldn’t complain.
He barely suppressed a groan at the prospect.
“Okay.” Reluctance dripped from the word, but at least she didn’t argue the point. She stood up and edged past Eblis, who, to his credit, avoided looking at her cute ass.
The crowd parted before the bodyguard, and Aurora sashayed across the floor on those astronomical heels, her arms crossed over her breasts and her head held high. She exuded a mesmeric air of confidence and could easily be mistaken, at first glance, for a minor demigoddess. After everything that had happened, any other human would be drooling in a corner as their brains leaked out of their ears. But except for that one shaky moment, she’d kept her shit together.
It was impressive.
Mephisto hooked one booted foot across his knee. “Isn’t she just adorable.”
The sarcasm sizzled in the air, but Gabe ignored it. He was more interested in the glimpses of Aurora’s rounded ass that she displayed with every exaggerated step she took. His cock throbbed with frustrated need.
“Cut the crap.” Eblis gave Mephisto a filthy glare that could reduce lesser beings to puddles of slime. “Since you didn’t come bearing gifts, what the fuck are you doing here?”
“Just delivering Gabe’s pet.” Mephisto ruffled his feathers and glanced at Gabe. “You’re welcome.”
Aurora finally disappeared from his view, and he turned to Mephisto. He had no idea why Meph thought it a good idea to bring her here, but that was a secondary detail. There was something they needed to get clear.
“Whatever interest you had in Aurora stops right now.”
“My only interest in the human was her obsession with interdimensional travel. Do you know what she was doing on the astral planes the moment before you arrived?”
How the fuck did Meph know about that? He hadn’t mentioned the astral planes when he’d seen Zad earlier.
But that wasn’t even his main concern. Because an unwelcome memory stirred and thudded through his head. When he’d taken her to his island, the first thing she’d asked was if he’d pulled her through to another dimension.
Why did she ask that? It wasn’t the most obvious thing a mortal would say after their first experience of teleportation. He’d thought it odd at the time but hadn’t attached any significance to it.
There is no significance. Meph lied as easily as he breathed. Except he had the sick certainty that this time Meph was telling the truth.
That was crazy. Aurora wasn’t from an advanced race of mortals who even understood the reality of alternate dimensions, let alone the complexities involved in breaching those dimensions.
But she has a telepathic shield like nothing I’ve encountered before.
“How the hell do you know where she was?”
“I tagged her phone.”
So that was why he’d felt Meph’s presence when he’d picked up the device. Because the bastard had been spying on her.
It was preferable to the alternative. At least Aurora hadn’t been involved with Mephisto.
“She was in trance. So what?” Even he could hear the belligerence in his voice. But he didn’t like the direction Meph was heading.
“She deliberately breached dimensions. I saw her.”
The hell she did.
“That’s why the Guardians are after her.” Eblis exhaled a long breath. “Nothing random about that.”
Denial thudded like a tribal drum inside his head. Aside from anything else, why would anyone try to cross dimensions while on the astral planes? “The Guardians got it wrong.”
“I was there, Gabe.” For once, Mephisto was serious. “There’s no mistake. It’s all the excuse they need to hunt her across the universe. She’ll never escape them.”
He clenched his fists, fighting the fury that pounded through his blood. He’d given Aurora his pledge of protection and it meant nothing.
If she had breached dimensions, she had given the Guardians, the self-appointed keepers of laws so ancient their reasoning was lost in the fog of time, carte blanche to exact retribution—and his protection was void. She would only be safe within the energy field that surrounded his island.
Only the beloveds of Immortals were immune from the Guardians’ grasping claws, whatever the provocation. Unlike bestowing protection, a beloved was their Immortal’s equal. There was no need for the blood exchange. It was love that granted the same, and greater, immunity.
Aurora wasn’t, and could never be, his beloved.
The Guardians wouldn’t move onto another victim when they got tired of looking for her. They would hunt her down until they found her because they were vindictive, tenacious fuckers.
Was it something I did? The terrified question she’d asked after he’d taken her to his island hammered through his mind. He’d been so sure of her innocence. He’d even been plagued by guilt that it was his fault she’d been targeted.
But she had known the truth all along. What else had she kept hidden from him?
“Tell me one thing.” It was fucking eating him alive. “Why did you d
rag me into this shitstorm?”
Confusion glinted in Mephisto’s eyes for a fleeting microsecond, but it was enough. He had nothing to do with Gabe’s involuntary teleportation. Gabe had been so sure Meph was responsible he hadn’t even considered any other possibility.
What other possibility could there be?
“I’m working on how that happened.” Mephisto sounded unusually grim.
“You do that.” Something dark and savage surged through him, scorching his blood. He needed answers that even Meph couldn’t give him, and by all the gods, he wouldn’t be distracted by Aurora’s blue eyes and deceptive innocence again.
He marched through the club, focused on only one thing. She’d tell him what he demanded, if it was the last damn thing she did.
The bodyguard was standing outside the bathroom door but instantly stepped aside at Gabe’s approach. He smashed open the door, dislodging the spindly chair Aurora had obviously used as a makeshift barricade, and she was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the mirrored powder room.
Her eyes were closed and her breathing shallow. She didn’t stir at his entrance and appeared oblivious when he kicked the door shut.
And then it hit him. She was ascending into the astral planes.
Why the fuck is she doing that now?
It didn’t matter. And he’d be damned if he’d wait for her to return in her own sweet time.
He crouched, gripped her shoulders, and glared into her calm face. The fact she was so serene while fire consumed his reason because of her pushed him over the edge.
“Get the hell back here, Aurora, or I swear I’ll follow and flay your soul until you scream for mercy.”
Chapter 12
Redemption: A Realm of Flame and Shadow Novel Page 8